Re-discovered vinyl
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trick_knee
- Junior Member
- Posts: 138
- Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2004 9:50 am
I also have a B&O turntable (RX) that I bought when I came to the US 21 years ago. I went through the same exercise of trying to buy a new cartridge a few years ago - the suspension system that holds the stylus doesn't last forever, and I wanted to find one before they all disappeared. I ended up tracking one down at a rather disgruntled ex-B&O dealer - the company was in the process of opening their own stores, and shutting everyone else down. It cost me rather a lot of money, but was worth it to protect the investment.
The turntable is about to find a new home in the basement, hooked up to my Magnepan SMGa speakers which have been gathering dust for a few years - all I need is an amp or a receiver.
The turntable is about to find a new home in the basement, hooked up to my Magnepan SMGa speakers which have been gathering dust for a few years - all I need is an amp or a receiver.
Go ahead and burn me as a heretic. I have no fond memories of vinyl, although I collected rare records for many many years. I sold nearly every piece last year to complete my conversion to digital music. I buy more music now than I ever did in the 'good ole days'. It's a fact that more music from the 1960's is available now than it was at the time. To my ears it sounds better than it ever did on scratchy old LP's, EP's, and 45's. Now it's more portable and much less fragile. Lost tracks and outtakes continue to find their way onto expanded and remastered editions. I think it's great. No complaints here.
Hearing people go on about the sound difference between analog and digital reminds me of the preference for tube amps over solid state amps. I happen to like both types for different reasons, but more than one tube amp lover has been fooled by my 1967 Vox Beatle (Thomas Organ USA). They play it and say something like, "There's nothing like a tube amp" and I reply, "It's actually solid state".
Hearing people go on about the sound difference between analog and digital reminds me of the preference for tube amps over solid state amps. I happen to like both types for different reasons, but more than one tube amp lover has been fooled by my 1967 Vox Beatle (Thomas Organ USA). They play it and say something like, "There's nothing like a tube amp" and I reply, "It's actually solid state".
No, Randy, you're not a heretic...and you probably have a lot more space in your living room than I do, too...
One of the things that happens when you listen to your own vinyl collection is you realize at some point that you (and your stylus) put every single pop and click into that recording...kind of like motorcycle scars, they're not something to be proud of or embarassed about, just an undeniable 'record' of your own history.
I can remember opening a brand new vinyl record, putting it on the spin and thinking: this is the best this album is ever gonna sound. It sort of added to the excitement of the moment..."the unbearable lightness of being"...
One of the things that happens when you listen to your own vinyl collection is you realize at some point that you (and your stylus) put every single pop and click into that recording...kind of like motorcycle scars, they're not something to be proud of or embarassed about, just an undeniable 'record' of your own history.
I can remember opening a brand new vinyl record, putting it on the spin and thinking: this is the best this album is ever gonna sound. It sort of added to the excitement of the moment..."the unbearable lightness of being"...
I didn't get where I am today by being on time...
If you were buying records in the late 1970's like I was, you know the poor quality of the vinyl that some manufacturers were using. I recall making three trips to the record store to find a copy of 'London Calling' by The Clash that wasn't so warped that the stylus would jump. Luckily, by the early 1980's I came to realize how uncool The Clash were/are, but then that's another story...
Yeah they still have a lot of Strawberry's here, around Worcester anyway. I agree about the vinyl during the later part or the 70's and 80's was pretty bad sometimes before the manufacturors decided for us that they were obsolete. The vinyl nowadays is much better, a new record usually sounds much better than it's eqivalent CD IMHO anyway.
I have a very powerful SS Marantz receiver right now which does sound good but the only reason I don't get a tube power amp like a Mac is because it would take a fortune to replace it with something that is close in power to it. Mac tube stereo equipment is by far the best sounding stuff I have ever heard in my life, there has been a big resurgance in tube stereo equipment unfortunately you have to be rich to buy most of it.
CD's have many advantages over records like better dynamic range, better frequency response, much clearer etc. but they lack one thing: realism; with analog you are hearing the actual sine wave, with digital you are hearing a bunch of cut off square waves making up a composite sinewave. Digital takes the music apart and puts it back together again, it's turned into a bunch of ones and zeroes. Analog simply turns the music into alternating electricity, the sine wave is never changed into anything else.
I have a very powerful SS Marantz receiver right now which does sound good but the only reason I don't get a tube power amp like a Mac is because it would take a fortune to replace it with something that is close in power to it. Mac tube stereo equipment is by far the best sounding stuff I have ever heard in my life, there has been a big resurgance in tube stereo equipment unfortunately you have to be rich to buy most of it.
CD's have many advantages over records like better dynamic range, better frequency response, much clearer etc. but they lack one thing: realism; with analog you are hearing the actual sine wave, with digital you are hearing a bunch of cut off square waves making up a composite sinewave. Digital takes the music apart and puts it back together again, it's turned into a bunch of ones and zeroes. Analog simply turns the music into alternating electricity, the sine wave is never changed into anything else.
Bob, I'm fully aware of the sine wave vs. square wave argument. Right or wrong, I've always believed that our ears and brains cannot process the sounds quickly enough to recognize a difference. Perhaps they can, but the process of sound reproduction through mechanical means (i.e. groove and stylus) seems more fraught with problems than the digital process. I know that 'people hear what people hear', but sometimes it appears that people want to hear a difference. Like the guys in the high end audiophile stores who claim to be able to hear differences in various types of high end speaker cable. I know that proper speaker cable is going to be better than inadequate speaker cable, but whether one high end brand is audibly better than another is frankly hard for me to believe. Call me a skeptic but I think a lot of high end audio gear is sold purely on 'snob appeal'. By the way, do all audiophiles have perfect hearing to match their perfect systems? Just an innocent question...
"By the way, do all audiophiles have perfect hearing to match their perfect systems? Just an innocent question..."
Probably not. When I sold Hi End Audio Gear I always told the prospective purchaser "you are not putting together a system to impress me. If you don't hear a difference don't buy it."
Also probably 50/50 between snob/ego that fuels the ultra high end market.
Probably not. When I sold Hi End Audio Gear I always told the prospective purchaser "you are not putting together a system to impress me. If you don't hear a difference don't buy it."
Also probably 50/50 between snob/ego that fuels the ultra high end market.
Linn Systems from Glasgow Scotland.
Ivor Tiefenbrun, what an unforgetable character he is, now there was some serious audio voodoo back when the Linn Sondek saga began.
When asked why ge got into music systems his response was that if you were walking down the street and heard music coming from a loft on the second floor you could tell if it was live or recorded. He wanted to build systems with which you could not tell. Interesting concept eh?
Ivor Tiefenbrun, what an unforgetable character he is, now there was some serious audio voodoo back when the Linn Sondek saga began.
When asked why ge got into music systems his response was that if you were walking down the street and heard music coming from a loft on the second floor you could tell if it was live or recorded. He wanted to build systems with which you could not tell. Interesting concept eh?
I think digital music comes across as harsh sounding sometimes I believe most of us are just accustomed to it by years of listening to CD's. But I do agree that the whole high end speaker cable business is a bunch of BS I use 12 or 14 gauge wire and it works fine for me. I definitely hear a difference between a tube Mac system and others though. I never forgot the first time I heard a Mac MC-30 mono tube power amp with matching mono pre amp run by an Advent mono tuner (SS). Clearest, prettiest sounding system I've ever heard.
"the whole high end speaker cable business is a bunch of BS"
Back in the '80s I used to go to the CES show in Las Vegas and to the Stereophile High End shows in L.A. One time we asked the guys in the Monster Cable room about their claim of low frequencies only going through one set of wires and the highs going through another set in their speaker cables. As an example of their fantastic technology we asked them to take the high frequency wires and hold one end while we put the other end into an AC outlet. Of course, we all know that 120 volts AC is low frequency (60 Hz in the US), so it should not travel through the high frequency wires, right? See where this is leading?
Needless to say they were not pleased with our feelings on the subject!!!
Back in the '80s I used to go to the CES show in Las Vegas and to the Stereophile High End shows in L.A. One time we asked the guys in the Monster Cable room about their claim of low frequencies only going through one set of wires and the highs going through another set in their speaker cables. As an example of their fantastic technology we asked them to take the high frequency wires and hold one end while we put the other end into an AC outlet. Of course, we all know that 120 volts AC is low frequency (60 Hz in the US), so it should not travel through the high frequency wires, right? See where this is leading?
Needless to say they were not pleased with our feelings on the subject!!!
Gosh fellas, I didn't mean to stir up a hornet's nest. I simply think everyone should listen to whatever they like best. I'll admit that it does disturb me when someone tries to explain the superiority of one system over another, usually resorting to some sort of junk science to explain their prejudice. I have to wonder why they bother. That's my last word on this topic.
Thanks!
Thanks!